Imported fruit to be quarantined
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Starting in September, fresh fruit, plants and plant products will be kept in quarantine before being imported to Vietnam, according to a new circular launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Circular 39 stipulates a list of plants to be analysed for chemical contamination, crop failure and disease before being imported. These include fresh fruit and seeds, cultivated plants, and some kinds of wood.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong said that plants which have new origins or are imported into Vietnam for the first time must undergo analysis.
Imported plants found to have risks of diseases or crop failure or bear warnings about chemical risks from export countries would also be required to be analysed, he said.
The move came after the ministry inspected 104 samples of foreign fruits and vegetables on sale at the markets last month.
The tests found that pesticide residues in samples of three kinds of Chinese fruits and vegetables were much higher than local limits.
Recently, Chinese grapes were reportedly imported from China over the Lao border, labelled as American grapes and sold for VND20,000-40,000 (Bt6-60)
per kilo.
WTO boosts garment trade
Garment exports have grown at an annual rate of 21.7 per cent in the five years since the country joined the World Trade Organisation, the Vietmam Textile and Apparel Association said.
Le Tien Truong, its deputy chairman, said exports, which had been worth only US$5.9 billion (Bt186 billion) in 2006, rose to $15.8 billion last year.
Vietnam has become the second largest garment exporter to the US, third largest to Japan, and fifth largest to the European Union, he said.
The industry accounts for 15-16 per cent of the country’s total exports, he said, and employs
2.5 million workers.
